UNM Sets Legislative Priorities for 2014

The highest priority for the University of New Mexico during the 2014 New Mexico legislative session is a funding formula that rewards higher student graduation rates and takes the specific educational mission of the university into account. University administrators believe UNM’s complex educational and research missions should be taken into account when lawmakers consider funding.

“We hope state legislators will be receptive to UNM’s efforts to graduate students at an increasing rate and our focus on building the best classroom and laboratory environment to support them,” said UNM President Robert Frank.

The university also supports the permanent abolition of the tuition credit. Historically the tuition credit has been used by the legislature as a mechanism to force tuition increases by decreasing the amount of state support from year to year. The lower amount of state support required regents to raise student tuition in order to maintain operating expenses and faculty salaries at the same level – shifting more of the expense of running the university from taxpayers to students. The legislature has altered budgeting practices for the last two years by eliminating the tuition credit. UNM is requesting that the practice be made permanent.

The university’s third priority is solvency of the lottery scholarship fund. Associated Students of UNM (ASUNM) are currently leading an effort to find a fair way to allocate declining revenue from the New Mexico Lottery. The university strongly supports those student efforts.